In the long history of the Yankees, the players to have donned the pinstripes run the spectrum from complete unknowns to national heroes. In between those two extremes, you have the type of player who maybe didn’t compile the most noteworthy career, but who provided a moment that has become immortalized in the annals of the franchise. Brian Doyle certainly falls into this category.
Brian Reed Doyle
Born: January 26, 1954 (Glasgow, KY)
Yankees Tenure: 1978-80
Brian Doyle and his twin brother, Blake,
were born on January 26, 1954, in Glasgow, KY, the younger brothers of major league second baseman Denny Doyle. The pair attended Caverna High School in Horse Cave, Kentucky, where Brian (a second baseman) and Blake (a pitcher and shortstop) led the team to the second state baseball championship in the program’s history in 1972. Both brothers had received several athletic scholarship offers from Division I schools, but had to change course following a family health scare. Their father suffered a heart attack in 1972, causing both brothers to declare for the 1972 June amateur draft thanks to the lucrative signing bonus offers that could help keep the family afloat in that time of financial need.
Brian and Blake were drafted in the fourth round that summer, by the Rangers and Orioles, respectively, and this is where the twins’ baseball stories diverged. Doyle experienced instant success upon being assigned to the Geneva Senators in the Short-Season A New York-Pennsylvania League, batting .256/.390/.363 with 16 stolen bases in 215 ABs. Unfortunately, Doyle was not able to sustain that early success, with injuries limiting him to just 115 ABs in 1974 and a prolonged slump leading to his demotion to the Class A Carolina League in 1975.
But then in his fourth season in the minor leagues, something clicked. In 1976, Doyle started the season on fire, leading to a promotion to Triple-A Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League. He finished that season batting .290 with three home runs and 32 RBI in 393 ABs, attracting the attention of the Yankees. Intrigued by this surging young player, on February 17, 1977, the Yankees traded Sandy Alomar Sr. to the Rangers for Doyle, fellow minor leaguer Greg Pryor, and $25,000.
Doyle was assigned to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs of the International League and began his tenure in the Yankees organization exactly as he ended his tenure in the Rangers organization — on fire. He scored nine hits in his first 26 ABs including lining up opposite his twin in a May 16th game against the Rochester Red Wings. However, misfortune struck again, a severely injured finger derailing a player who looked to be on the fast track to the majors. Both his offense and defense suffered, Doyle finishing the year batting .200 with no home runs in the second half of the season.
By the time 1978 rolled around, Doyle was back to full health, though the same could not be said for the major league club. The Yankees were struck by an uncommon number of injuries to start the season, which led to Doyle’s first call-up in April to replace infielder Mickey Klutts, who had broken his thumb. Doyle made his MLB debut on April 30th, going hitless in three ABs against Twins righty Roger Erickson after replacing Willie Randolph at second base early in the contest.
Doyle was briefly optioned back down in May, but found his way back to the major league club after batting .333 in 75 ABs at Triple-A Tacoma. He collected his first two major league hits in a 4-0 win over the California Angels on June 17th, but was back on the shuttle to the minor leagues when first baseman Jim Spencer came off the DL. The September roster expansions gave Doyle another crack in the majors, but he registered just one appearance as a defensive sub with the Yankees and Red Sox locked in a fierce divisional battle for first place.
Sometimes, all you need is one opportunity, and Doyle’s came when Randolph suffered a season-ending hamstring injury running out an infield single in the eighth inning of a September 29th tilt against Cleveland. Doyle entered as a pinch-runner and scored the go-ahead run in a 3-1 come-from-behind victory. In the final games of the regular season, Doyle platooned with Fred Stanley, including starting the famous Bucky Dent Game when the Yankees defeated the Red Sox in the AL East tiebreaker playoff at Fenway to punch their ticket to the postseason.
The following day, Doyle was penciled in as the starter at second for Game 1 of the ALCS against the Royals. However, after being left off the 25-man playoff roster, he had to receive last-minute emergency dispensation from Commissioner Bowie Kuhn to be added to the roster. He collected a pair of hits including the first RBI of his career, a fifth inning single off Steve Mignori to plate Graig Nettles as the Yankees went on to win, 7-1. Doyle was used as a defensive sub in Game 2, did not appear in Game 3, and drew a walk in the series-clinching Game 4 as the Yankees were set to defend their World Series crown against the Dodgers.
With the southpaw Tommy John on the mound for the Dodgers in Game 1, Doyle started on the bench and was only used as a late-inning defensive replacement as the Yankees lost, 11-5. He drew the start in Game 2, knocking a single off Dodgers starter Burt Hooton, but Ron Cey’s three-run homer off Catfish Hunter put the Yankees in a hole, 0-2, to start the series.
Doyle got the start again in Game 3 and went hitless in four ABs, but the Yankees clawed themselves back into the series with a 5-1 victory. John started his second game of the series in Game 4, which again relegated Doyle to being a late-inning defensive replacement as Lou Piniella leveled the series at two games apiece with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th.
Hooton was back on the mound for the Dodgers in Game 5 meaning Doyle earned the start and batted eighth. He singled to center with one out in the fourth off reliever Lance Rautzhan and scored on a Mickey Rivers single as the Yankees plated three in the frame to extend their lead to 7-2. He singled again with one on and one out in the seventh off reliever Charlie Hough, scoring on a Roy White single as part of a four-run outburst. He collected his third single of the contest in the eighth, this time with two outs, and the Yankees completed their 12-2 romp to pull within a win of back-to-back titles.
The series returned to Los Angeles for Game 6 with future Hall of Famer Don Sutton on the mound for the home team. Davey Lopes opened the scoring with a leadoff home run off Hunter in the first, but Doyle responded in the second, doubling to deep left with two on and one out to plate Nettles as the tying run. Both Doyle and Spencer would score a batter later when Dent grounded a two-run single up the middle to give the Yankees the lead, 3-1. After Lopes drew the Dodgers within one in the third, Doyle legged out an infield single in the fourth, though the Yankees failed to score in the frame. Two innings later, Piniella led off with a single, but Sutton recored a pair of quick-fire outs to seemingly end the threat. However, Doyle lined a two-out single to center to plate Piniella and restore the Yankees’ two-run cushion before scoring himself on a Dent single to left that made it 5-2, Yankees. Reggie Jackson clinched the World Series winning victory with a two-run home run in the seventh, and just like that Doyle went from a September call-up to World Series hero in the span of six weeks.
Doyle led all Yankees hitters with a .438 average across those six games. He finished second in World Series MVP voting behind Dent. The pair collected three hits each in Games 5 and 6 as the No. eight and nine hitters in the lineup, scoring four runs between them in Game 5 and driving in five runs combined in Game 6. As Doyle put it after raising the trophy, “All I know is, I’m not going to sell clothes this winter,” in reference to his offseason job selling shirts and fitting customers at Gold & Farley’s clothing store in Bowling Green, KY. Doyle was celebrated in a parade on “Brian Doyle Day” in his hometown of Cave City, KY, a week later and capitalized on his newfound family name fame by opening the Doyle Baseball instructional school in Florida alongside his brothers that winter.
With Randolph fully healthy at the start of the 1979 season, Doyle returned to a bench role and appeared in just 20 games. It was more of the same in 1980, though Doyle did collect the lone home run of his major league career — a solo shot off Cleveland righty Len Barker on June 29th. Following the conclusion of the season, the Yankees traded Doyle’s platoon partner Stanley and a player to be named later to the A’s for pitcher Mike Morgan, the Yankees sending Doyle to complete the deal. However, the commissioner vetoed Doyle’s inclusion given he was assigned to a minor league club at the time, though the A’s managed to complete the transaction by selecting Doyle in the Rule 5 Draft in December.
Injuries prevented Doyle from ever nailing down a starting role in Oakland, as a separated shoulder suffered in a collision at second base with Blue Jays DH Otto Vélez on May 24, 1982 ended Doyle’s major-league career. After brief management stints in the minor leagues, Doyle retired from organizational baseball in 1984. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2014, but was able to make it to Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium that season, where he was celebrated for his World Series performance. Doyle has remained a familiar presence at Old-Timers’ Day events ever since.
If not for his World Series heroics, Brian Doyle would likely have joined the long list of players to have played for the Yankees but faded into obscurity. However, those six games cemented Doyle’s place in the memories of many Yankees fans.
References
Brian Doyle. Baseball-Reference.
Brian Doyle. Baseball Almanac.
Skelton, David E. “Brian Doyle.” SABR
Grubbs, Rob. “From the Bronx to the Barn: Brian Doyle’s remarkable journey comes full circle in Newnan.” The Newnan Times-Herald. July 3, 2025.
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